Israel Continues to Justify Killing Journalists By Claiming They’re Hamas Terrorists

"The order to assassinate Anas Al Sharif, one of Gaza's bravest journalists, and his colleagues, is a desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza," Al Jazeera wrote on Sunday.

By Audra Heinrichs | August 11, 2025 | 6:32pm

Photo Credit: Getty Images In Depth Latest

Israel Continues to Justify Killing Journalists By Claiming They’re Hamas Terrorists

On Sunday, Anas al-Sharif, a 28-year-old Al Jazeera reporter, was killed along with four colleagues in a deliberate drone strike by the Israeli military as they camped outside of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital. Alongside al-Sharif, Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, 33, and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, 25, Mohammed Noufal, 29, and Moamen Aliwa, 23, were also murdered.

Al-Sharif had become one of the most well-known journalists covering the genocide in Gaza, having garnered nearly two million combined followers on Twitter and Instagram. As a result, the IDF began targeting him, claiming he was the leader of a “Hamas terrorist cell.” On July 24, The Committee to Protect Journalists wrote that it was “gravely worried” about Al-Shariff’s safety in the face of the IDF’s smear campaign against him.

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“The order to assassinate Anas al-Sharif, one of Gaza’s bravest journalists, and his colleagues, is a desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza,” Al Jazeera wrote in a statement on Sunday.

Before his death, al-Sharif wrote a lengthy message that he instructed his team to post on social media in the event Israel was successful in killing him. “This is my will and final message,” he wrote. “If these words of mine each you, Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice. Peace be upon you, and the mercy and blessings of Allah.”

He added: “I lived pain in all its details and tasted loss and grief time and again. Yet, I never hesitated for a single day to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification, hoping that Allah would bear witness to those who remained silent, those who accepted our killing, and those who besieged our breaths, unmoved by the remains of our children and women, and who did not stop the massacre that our people have been enduring for over a year and a half.”

The IDF swiftly justified al-Sharif’s death by continuing to wrongly claim he was a Hamas “terrorist”—just like they did after killing at least four other Al Jazeera journalists: Hamza Al Dahdouh in January 2024; Ismail Al Ghoul in July 2024; Rami Al Refee also in July 2024; and Hossam Shabat in March.

Since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Israel has killed 270 journalists (an average of 13 per month), per Al Jazeera. And according to a report published by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs’ Costs of War project, more journalists have been killed in Gaza than in both world wars, the Vietnam War, the wars in Yugoslavia, and the United States war in Afghanistan combined. Of those journalists, at least 10 Al Jazeera journalists have been targeted and killed by the IDF.

In addition to murdering journalists, Israel—armed with unsubstantiated Hamas designations and impunity granted by the United States continues to murder thousands upon thousands (over 60,000) of innocents. And because the IDF’s depravity knows no bounds, those risking everything to document it have been added to the growing number of casualties. How many more?

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